Lauren- birthday

Thursday I went to see a stand-up comic at a bar with jano and it was so cool! He like acted out some action movies kind of and i yelled out jurassic park and he said he would do it, but he didn´t...jerk. We were in like a reserved area so we got to sit down and everyone else had to stand plus we got one free drink with our tickets. Then some pregnant ladies needed a place to sit down and the manager asked us if we cared if they sat in the reserved area with us and we said no and he gave us another free drink each!

Then Friday I went to the airport to pick up my dad and we went to a chinese restaurant for lunch then went bar hopping in madrid so my dad could try some tapas and we could have some beer. We walked around the Puerta del Sol which is the exact center of Madrid. There we took some pictures with the cows that are part of some exhibition thing they are doing where artists or famous people paint or decorate cows and they put them around the city. They were pretty much everywhere we went. We also went to the Gran Via, which is like the main street of madrid. We went to dinner at an Italian restaurant and bought some beer at a grocery store. Then we went to Emi´s house, played cards and drank until my dad went to bed. Jano and I stayed up until midnight and he gave me earrings and candy for my birthday. :)

Then the next morning we left the house at like 11 to start sightseeing. We went to see my campus, then to retiro park where we sat by the lake, watched the paddleboats, had a drink and listened to the musicians. Then we started walking some more to Atocha, the train station, and past all the museums, la Reina Sofia, the Prado, the Thyssen. We ended up in Cibeles plaza where we got on the metro to go to the Plaza Mayor. Jano met us there and we had lunch in the middle of the plaza. After that me and my dad took a nap and Jano supposedly had to go study, but really he went and picked up Cara!! then they both came over and we left to go to Toledo. Right when we got there his family gave me presents (2 shirts and a necklace) and they sang me happy birthday in English and I blew out the candles. That night we went to a nice dinner in the old part of Toledo and walked around a little to see the city at night. After my dad went to bed we left to go to botellon. Cara and I got pretty drunk and she got to experience peeing in the bushes and drinking outside all night.

Sunday my dad woke me up at like 730 because he´s on crack, and, since no one else woke up until like 11, we went with jano´s dad to eat churros, buy bread and the newspaper and do a little driving tour. When everyone else woke up we all walked around Toledo. Seeing it through my dad´s eyes made me remember how absolutely beautiful a city it is. Jano´s mom made us paella for lunch which was yummy! After all that, we played some ping pong and fusbol. Jano dominated everyone at both. Then we all needed to take a siesta until we came back to madrid where we dropped cara off at the train station to go back to Zaragoza. Then we checked my dad in at the hotel and went to dinner at VIPS.

I´m trying to think of something to do to thank jano´s family and Emi for letting my dad stay with them and making my birthday so wonderful. Let me know if you have any suggestions.

OH! I also got two cards, one from Lauren Petrik and one from rachel that I haven´t seen yet because jano´s dad has to go to the post office to pick it up sometime this week! love you all and I miss you!